The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 65

events, or by some strong passage of Scripture, or by a faithful friend, or by the silent, reflected light of some holy Christian life, the privileges and favours of bygone years are flashed ,before the spirit, to the sudr!en terror and quickened action of conscience. Past mercies cannot be thought of in isolation ; by a welJ-known mental law they raise up the ghosts of former sins committee! in the face of mercies. As the aged Eli saw the truth of the words of the "man of God," so do others see their former selves, and feel their inward condemnation. 2. A convidion of the fixed character of coming events. "Behold, the days COME." The guilty man sees the dismal train of events, and knows, on highest authority, that the decree is fixed. To the prophetic eye the future is as the present ; events that are to be are recorded on the spirit as done, with all their natural effects realised by the discerning mind. Nature, with hel' usual quiet certainty, was at work elaborating events out of the sins perpetrated by father and sons; and therefore to the Hebrew mind that recognises nature only·as the dumb instrument of the Eternal, the coming disasters are recog- nised properly as the fixed elements of the deserved retribution. There is the same conviction in. others who have sinned. The human.mind, in spite of its·,sins, answers to the course. of nature. It mirrors in its conviction of certain punishment the regu- larity and fixity with which the laws of nature are at work. In the instance of many a man, powers have been set at work by his sins in virtue of the operation of which family reputation will fade and perish; premature decay will fall to the lot of descendants; sorrow o.nd trouble will cast shadows over their pathway; and life generally will be marred. Yes ; and he knows it now. The committal of sin is as the unlopsing of forces of ill which enter of necessity into all the ramifications of subsequent life. .The sorrow and pain consequent on this certain knowledge is no slig:ht element in the retribution experienced. JII. RETRIBUTION AFFECTS THE LIVING THROUGH THE UNBORN, AND THE UNBOR:,f ;rHROUGH THE LIVINO. Sin injures and degrades the sinner, but does not end in him- self. Every being is related to every other being. Interactions are as real and constant in the moral sphere as in.the sphere of physics. An act of sin is an act of will, and therefore the production of a wave of influence which moves on and modifies .the totality of life. Wisely and beautifully, then, does the Bible teach truth in harmony with the usual order of things when it represents Eli's sin as cutting off the arm (strength) of hie father's house, shortening the days of his children, lowering their position in the world, and causing them to bear the sorrow of seeing a culmination of their ancestor's sin in the " presence of an enemy " to mar the wealth of blessing properly enjoyed by Israel. 1. A general law is exemplified in Eli's punishment. The Bible teaches that the sins of the fathers bring woe on children. The course of nature establishes the fact. No man can give out from himself any influence above what his real constitution and character are fitted to pro- duce. A defective moral courage works detrimentally on descendants by example as truly as do imperfect manners. Social Jaws insure that a lost reputation modi- fies the relative position of offspring. The degenerate habits of a Hophni and a Phinehas cannot but lessen the years and enfeeble the moral and physical vigour of several generations. God's laws are uniform in all o.ges and climes. The experi- ence of Eli's family is repeated in the home of thi drunkard, the sensual, the educa- tiorndly neglected, the morally weak, and in th, effects of wicked statesmanship. But the law has two aspects. The living affect the unborn, but also the known future condition of the unborn affects the condition of the living. Wisely men are constituted so as to be deeply affected by what may happen to their future reputa- tion and their descendants. That the goor! fame of his house should perish ; that his descendants should be reduced in social position, and variously injured in con- sequence of the guilt of himself and sons, was a bitter element in Eli's punishment. Nor iB this a rare case, for as a rule men are more influenced by what comes to their ohildren than by what personal pain they themselves suffer. In his descendants man sees himself repeated in multiplied form. 2. The yeneral law is subject fo. limitations. The evil that comes to posterity through sin of ancestors does not shut out from the mercy that saves the soul. Disgrace, loss of health, early r!eath, poverty may be part of the curse of a father's sin ; hut through the mercy of God in Christ these suffel'ers may find renewal of spirit, pardon, and eternal life. "By  THE FIHST DOOK OF SAMUEL. [OH, II, 27-36.